I have never cooked or eaten black eyed peas (well, before today). But, I watch a lot of Food TV and the last few days these little beans have been featured a lot, as a symbol of prosperity in the New Year.

I'm a sucker for both symbolism and prosperity.

After digging through the internet for a while, I discovered that Black Eyed Peas are typically soaked overnight and simmered with a ham hock. The idea of soaking something overnight sounds like entirely too much work, and I'm pretty sure a ham hock is a pig's foot and that is just disgusting. I've seen pigs. I know where their feet have been.

We did have these in the freezer though:

I figured I could do this. I gathered my ingredients:

2 bags of dried black eyed peas, frozen Trader Joe's Chicken and Apple Sausage, a head of garlic and some apple cider vinegar.

After rinsing the beans in warm water, and sorting---which I have never done before---(I assumed it meant picking out the few undesirables).

sorry little guys! you didn't make the cut.

I got my sous chef started on peeling the head of garlic,

while I boiled a kettle of water.

I dumped the beans into the crock, and covered them with just enough boiling water to fully cover the beans. I added the sausage and garlic cloves and turned the slow cooker on high.

I added a tablespoon of the apple cider vinegar for flavoring because we seem to have two large unopened bottles for no good reason and I guessed that the vinegary acid would help soften the beans.

It was 8:07 am so I figured if the different recipes I perused were correct, we should be munching on some soft beany goodness for dinner.

Dude. The slow cooker rocks. Rocks, I tell you!

The whole thing was done in less than 3 1/2 hours. Totally cool.

All in all, I definitely think that I will cook dried beans in the slow cooker again. But I don't think I'll be making black eyed peas any time soon.

Hi I know this is late, but I just had to leave you a note. First of all, black eyed peas are only good if you fry bacon up and add to the cooking peas, along with salt and pepper. I cook mine in the crock pot until right before I serve them, then I pour them into a pot and let them boil for a little while to thicken them up. They are much better that way,no vinegar. I have added regular sausage along with the bacon. And hog jowls are not pigs feet. They look like a big piece of bacon. This is really a southern dish, we cook them alot here. You will have to try them again using fried bacon along with the bacon grease. Have a great day!!!Missy from Alabama

I'm late as well and black eyed peas are sooo good if seasoned well. We used smoked turkey, onion and a bouillon cube or two based on the amount of beans. I don't know how big your family is but two bags was really too much as the beans expand once cooked. Throw some hot sauce over those bad boys once they are done and you've got some good eats!!

Just a quick note, vinegar or lemon juice or other acids actually slow down or stop the cooking of beans, so it's best to add these sour flavours towards the end of a bean recipe rather than right at the beginning.

Good luck with your crockpot resolution! Thanks for posting the recipes, I'll be trying some out.

I wanted to check out your first post and was surprised to see that it was black eyed peas. I was even more surprised to see that you didn't care for them. Though to be honest, I don't think I would have cared for them prepared that way either.

I make black eyed peas every New Year's Day. It's been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. When I was younger my dad would cook them on the stove all day, however in the last three years I started making them in the crock-pot.

The little chicken sausages you used? Not a good idea. And I'm not sure where the vinegar idea came from, but I have never ever put vinegar into my beans.

I always soak my beans overnight. It's just as easy to sort and soak the night before as it is to sort and toss into the pot the morning of. (And just for the record? Canned beans are bad, mmkay.)

Garlic, onion, kosher salt, generous black pepper and maybe a few red pepper flakes. I also use chicken broth, which gives the "gravy" some nice flavor. You've got to use some kind of smoked meat. I use smoked ham shanks because they're meatier than the hock. A good smoked sausage might work too.

Traditionally we've always served it over white rice, but I've switched to brown in the last few years of making it on my own, with cornbread, home-made Southern style greens and coleslaw on the side. It's one of my favorite meals of the year. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, I think I'll make it next weekend. New Year's is too far off.

SO, I'm totally overwhelmed trying to read all of the recipes and decide which one I want to make next...I've decided to start at the beginning. I'm going to use every recipe in "January" that I think my family would like and then move on to February...

Black Eyed Peas will not be one of them. Although it's not b/c I think they're gross. You're not from the south, right?I grew up on purple hull peas. similar. we had either for New Year's. And you have to have cabbage too. for money (I guess cause it's green?)Anyway, prepared right, they are very good! : )and a ham hock is NOT pig's foot! hahahahaha! maybe it's the thigh bone? not sure which body part, but around here people (NOT me) eat pickled pig's feet (just sounds too gross to even try) and they look VERY different from the ham hock my grandma uses in her beans, peas, etc.ok, I'll leave you alone now! : )

Oh, my word! I am shocked! I've been loving your blog ever since I was told about it. Today I've been scrolling through picking out some recipes that look especially tempting (since tonight is the big grocery shopping night.) I was so excited when I saw Black Eyed Peas, but imagine my horror when I saw that you thought they were icky! Black eyed peas are amazing! One of my all-time favorite comfort foods. You simply must make them again (next year, right?) I won't belabor this comment with how to do it, but trust me....you need to follow the advice of great southern cooks and use some smoked meat...ham, bacon, anything. Also, cornbread, which I know you like is a great accompanyment to black-eyed peas. Don't give up on them yet!

Sorry to be a late bloomer, but I just found your blog and I love it that you are sharing so much wonderful information.

But as an almost 50 year old who has lived most of her life in Florida, I think you really must try some black eye peas FRESH! Yum, yum, yum!

There is even a place in Plant City, which every other month or so, offers fresh vegetables (that have been frozen obviously) very reasonable. You can buy a bushel and then put them in smaller bags for the size your family would use. They even have pink eye peas too....and those are my favorite. Nothing as good as fresh ones (not dried) with a few snaps in there too. Some cornbread on the side and chunks of ham in your dish. Life is good.

I agree! That sounds wonderful. I look forward to a "do-over" on this recipe. I didn't really know what I was doing when I made this, and hopefully I can make a good pot this upcoming New Years.xoxsteph

As the others before me said... you have to try it again. Hoppin' John is one of my family's favorite meals. We probably have it closer to 1x/month than 1x/year.

If you try it again in January, I'd suggest trying the Lee Brothers' recipe. We have their cookbook and it's fabulous. They published a copy of their Hoppin' John Recipe in their NY Times Column -- see here.

my mom cooks them the way blue does but she also adds some string beans (because we can NEVER find freshe snaps). After it has cooked she serves it with fresh cilantro and onions as a garnish. YUM. Of course, you have to have cornbread too.

I was googling for crockpot recipes and I found this blog. I wish I would have found it while it was going on but that's ok. The concept is really cool. So, I want to try the recipes from the beginning. I saw the black-eye peas recipes and my jaw dropped at what those poor peas went through. I was raised on black eye peas and that was definitely how we had them. Black eye peas are awsome and so is Hoppin John. So, I looked at the other comments and I read the Hoppin John recipe that dbowden left linked to the NY times recipe. The recipe looked similar to the Hoppin John I grew up with. I cooked that recipe in the crockpot and dolled it up with some Spanish rice and seasoning, ham hocks, and bacon. Let's just say that my boyfriend was very happy with dinner that night. Oh, and of course we had cornbread. It turned out great and I can't wait for the next recipe.

In the nicest way possible, that looks pretty gross. However don't hate on the Black-Eyed Pea. It's like when someone borrows your favorite shirt and they wear it all wrong and you just hope they aren't walking around telling everyone it's your shirt. My mom makes the best Black-Eyed Pea dinner and not even my hubby would touch a Black Eyed Pea until he tried my mom's. She cooks up a lb of Jimmy Dean's style sausage in a large frying pan. Then trows in Black-Eyed Peas and serves it over Uncle Ben's white rice. SO YUMMY!

Yet another Southerner coming to the party quite late and totally appalled at the way you destroyed those peas, LOL. Steph, hon, do pay attention to the experts on this. I'm looking through your blog and I do hope to find you've tried blackeyed peas again with a better idea how to fix them the second time. Be SURE to soak them if you make them from dried peas.

I wish I had found your blog sooner. I really enjoyed catching up on all your crockpot experiences as I read over the past few days. With the New Year once again approaching, I wanted to share my very easy Black Eyed Pea recipe. I do the 10 minute boil on the stove in lieu of soaking overnight (because I can't get my act together to remember anything that far in advance). Then I drain and dump the peas in the crockpot with a sprinkling of Kosher salt, can of Rotel tomatoes and water to 1 inch above the peas. I cook on low all day until the peas are soft. I like the extra "bite" the Rotel tomatoes give it. I wouldn't use the mild tomatoes though. If that is all you have, sprinkle some Creole seasoning in to make up for the missing "heat".

Hahaha, I visit your blog often for recipes, and I've seen your black eyed peas recipe before, but not this original. You used to think that soaking beans overnight was too much work! And don't feel bad, at one point I also thought a ham hock was a pig's foot.

so this is hilarious lol. for starters a ham hock is not a foot lol, but you could have used bacon or even chicken broth. and not so much garlic.but they are best when cooked w/ smoked turkey/pork neck bones and seasoned to taste e.g. adobo, salt, pepper etc.

I'm probably reallly late reading this blog and for posting this response but the best way to eat black eyed peas is in curry form, with white steamed rice, Pm me if you want the recepie! :) Love your blog.

We cook a big bone-in ham for Christmas, save the ham bone and use it to make black-eyed peas for New Years Day. The ham, peas soaked overnight and salt, pepper and onion...cooked all night in the crock pot...excellent with cabbage and potatoes, along with cornbread...yummm....

If in a hurry for dried black eyed peas try this. Rinse peas well and pick out bad ones. Put in a pot large enough to have several inches from the top once peas are covered in water. Add 2 Tbls soda and bring peas to a boil. Turn heat to medium and allow to gently boil about 10 minutes. (You have to watch or the soda will cause them to boil over). Pour all into a colander and rinse the pot and peas well. Return to pot, cover with water, add seasonings and cook til done, about 30 minutes. No more soaking or cooking all day. My grandmother taught me this many years ago and I always cook the peas this way.

If in a hurry for dried black eyed peas try this. Rinse peas well and pick out bad ones. Put in a pot large enough to have several inches from the top once peas are covered in water. Add 2 Tbls soda and bring peas to a boil. Turn heat to medium and allow to gently boil about 10 minutes. (You have to watch or the soda will cause them to boil over). Pour all into a colander and rinse the pot and peas well. Return to pot, cover with water, add seasonings and cook til done, about 30 minutes. No more soaking or cooking all day. My grandmother taught me this many years ago and I always cook the peas this way.

I've recently been sent your link and am very excited to try most if not all of your recipes; I love any recipe that uses a slow cooker or the option to make ahead and freeze so I can spend more time with my family. ** My question: what size crock pot do you use? I know on the next recipe (dip) you mention the size but unless I missed it (very possible) I can't see what size you used here. I'd like to use my 3.5 quart crock pots that come in that set of 3...so I can cook more than one at a time...and I need to know how much to cut the recipe...thanks! Love the idea!!

The only thing not touched on about your learning process is the bean sorting, it isn't to remove undesirable beans, but to make sure that beans are all you'll be cooking, sometimes the sorting machines leave small stones behind.

You & your site rock!!! Word of advice re: black eyed peas (my hubby hates them, too) but as a true Southerner, I insist he eats them on New Years Day. He just takes one or two like pills (that's my advice if you really hate them). This year, since there are only 2 of us now, I doctored up a can. Sautéed chopped onions, minced garlic & some sliced Kielbasa (hey, it's what I had on hand), then added a drained can of black eyed peas with a little chicken broth (not too much). My husband actually ate a genorous spoonful, 1st time in 25 yrs he didn't take them like pills LOL!

WOW!!!! This was my 1st time on this site and also at looking at a recipe! I am APPALLED and SADDENED by the rudeness many of you have dumped on Stephanie! At least she TRIED; at least she has this BLOG; at least she is giving you IDEAS; at least she is not being RUDE BACK TO YOU! Many of you could have reworded your responses to be positive, encouraging and not using degrading remarks. I am not a Southerner but my husband is from Alabama and he has never complained about how this California girl made his black-eyed peas! WAY TO GO STEPHANIE for going out there and trying something new and sharing it with your blog and your site!!!!!!!

Your site is awesome!If you want to do black eyed peas right do it in the way of rice and peas like the Caribbean dishes that we serve, (canned or not), some diced onion,some coconut milk,some bacon, some browning, I will have to find a recipe that is somewhat like I make, it will have you rethinking this whole black eyed pea thing...lol (like the Caribbean dishes that we serve, )

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